What Comes Next? Sunday, September 28, Intro:

Transcription

1 What Comes Next? Sunday, September 28, 2014 Intro: Today we will be turning to two portions of scripture and we will begin in 2 Corinthians 5:1-8 and Revelation 19: 6-9 and as we are reading together, I want you to ask yourself the question, What connects these two passages of scripture? We are returning to our bible prophecy series that is really an exploding of Part IV of the fourfold gospel one. Part IV as I trust you remember is Jesus, the Soon Coming King. Last week we began our series and we had a high level look at the whole notion of the Second Coming of Christ, which is really, a series of events rather than a single one. Most of our focus was upon the rapture of the Church and let s just do a little review before advancing the teaching to something new. When it comes to the Second Coming of Christ, I wanted to at least make sure we are all clear that there is both an appearance part and an actual coming part! Our primary proof text comes to us from 1 Thessalonians 4: For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. And here is another one from 1 Corinthians 15: Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? Now, you would recognize these from funerals but I would rather celebrate these verses at other times too! So let s do a couple of things, let s locate the rapture again on our timeline and I trust you remember it from last week. Here we are in the last days of the church age, the age of grace. And here is another chart that I am borrowing from Craig Pitts who gave me an excellent reference guide on bible prophecy that he put together. I will be using some of his material today but after looking at other commentaries, the information is pretty common so I won t be working too hard at citations today.

2 The Rapture and Resurrection Jesus returns to snatch the church before the tribulation Jesus comes for His Church Happens in the air Marks the beginning of the Great Tribulation on earth Affects only those who are in Christ (Living and Dead) The Return of the Lord (Post Tribulation) Jesus returns to the earth to set up the Millennial Kingdom Jesus comes with His Church Happens on earth Marks the end of the Great Tribulation on earth and the beginning of the battle of Armageddon Affects the whole of planet earth and all people living upon it So there you have it, and I trust that helps make it all clear and once again, if you are sitting across from my table at Big Stop and the next minute I disappear with all my other Christian friends, then you can have what I ordered and my little black truck in the parking lot because my family won t be needing it! So let s press on. Proposition: I asked you to make a connection between the two passages that I read for you earlier. Did you make it? The connection is this: these are the two things that are going to happen to you in heaven after the rapture and before you return for the millennial rule. I. The Judgment Seat of Christ There is a lot to cover here so I will move quickly. 1. The Meaning of Judgment Seat There are two different notions of the judgment seat in the New Testament. The first would be very similar to how we view a courtroom in our legal or judicial system. During biblical times, the seat would be raised on a platform, resembling a throne and the judge would be seated upon it (See Acts 18:12, 16). The leader would sit on this throne and make speeches, view military parades or watch the games, the entertainment. But there is a challenge from other commentators who suggest Paul had more of the Athenian concept in mind where the bema seat was for the purposes of simply handing out rewards of achievement at competitions. 2. The Timing of the Judgment Seat A great question for you to ask is, When is this going to happen? The simple answer is, right after you are raptured. Dwight Pentecost reminds us that reward is associated with resurrection! 3. The Place of the Judgment Seat This is really simple, it is in heaven because we are going to be caught up and in the clouds, and the clouds are most likely the place of God s glory and not the second heavens or the sky itself. And because we are going to be absent from the body, meaning we are going to be with the Lord, we know this place is the very presence of Christ Himself.

3 4. The Judge of the Judgment Seat This flows from point number 3. John s gospel tells us, The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, (John 5:22) and speaking of Jesus! And here is another passage from Romans 14:10, Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 5. The Subjects of the Judgment Seat We need to be very clear about something here; the subjects of the Judgment Seat are Christians only. We have been taken from the earth that we would not be judged during the tribulation period, which is God s wrath being poured out upon the unbelieving world, the professing but unbelieving Church, and to get Israel back on track. There will be a judgment for the wicked and we will look at that in a few weeks time. I know this sounds harsh but it is reality and cannot be sugar-coated for the sake of political correctness! 6. The Basis of the Judgment Seat Back when we chatted about the possible meanings of the Judgment Seat, we hinted at the discussion concerning what is being judged here. And this is very important. i. This judgment has nothing to do with forgiveness of sins A very important thing for us to understand is that our sins were judged at the cross of the Lord Jesus. It was there all sins past, present and future received judgment. This is not the place where anyone will be judged sheep or goat, good fish or bad, wheat or tare. Here is some proof: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1) Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. (John 5:24) By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. (1 John 4:17-18) So having that out of the way, what is being judged then? As individuals, we will be brought before Jesus and the works done while on this earth will be examined in order to determine their true character and to lay bear our motives for doing them. We have each done a lot of things In the name of Jesus while here on earth and we will find out just how much in the name of Jesus they actually were. Let s have another look at verse 10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or (bad/evil) (2 Co. 5:10) Paul uses a non-typical word here for bad and it is the word phaulos. This word does not speak of something that is morally or ethically evil but gives us more of the sense of worthless or good for nothingness. In my understanding, this notion should absolutely

4 be connected to the parable of the talents. I strongly believe that one of the main emphases of this time of judgment will be the reconciling of what we did with each of our unique opportunities given our individual talents or endowments. Jesus is not going to care about the good works of unbelievers, they are going to hell and will not be rewarded for even the spectacular humanitarian things that they have done. I know this sounds foolish to the unregenerate mind, but I am only the messenger here, I didn t make this up. But I wonder if you have every really given a lot of thought to the fact that what you have not done or what you have underdone will be the subject of judgment. I want you to follow my example so I am committing to Overdoing everything worth doing as long as I live! 7. The Result of the Judgment Seat There is going to be a tangible result as you leave this time of judgment. As a matter of fact, the very best thing we could do right now is show the clear picture of what God expects from us, in order that we understand the things He values, and that we are not focused on the things we value. What are the rewards that we are to pursue? And these rewards will come in the form of a crown. The best sense we have of what these crowns might look like are the wreaths that would have been bestowed to the victor at athletic games. These crowns will be absolutely indestructible to the fire test. i. The self-control crown (Getting mastery over the old man) Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. (1 Corinthians 9:25) ii. The soul winning crown No one should be surprised that those who take the Great Commission to heart would be rewarded. For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? 20 For you are our glory and joy. (1 Thessalonians 2:19) We all must be involved in this missional enterprise, the obedient response to the Great Commission. As we have learned in recent weeks, the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a subsequent work of grace that empowers us to witness. iii. The enduring trials crown Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12) Christians have been under pressure since the very first century and even last week, I saw a video from East Ukraine where four Christians had been executed by the Russian backed rebels, one of the them a pastor who comes from a town that I have preached in. It was reported that this is a religious persecution by professing Russian Orthodox motivated people.

5 iv. The loving His appearing crown. The fourth crown will go to those who have the sentiment of hoping for and loving His appearing. As I stated last week, every generation of Christians has been put on watch to be rapture ready. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:8) v. The flock feeding crown The last of the crowns we will discuss today is the crown that will be awarded to those who preach and teach the word of God. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. (1 Pet. 5:2-4) II. The Marriage Supper of the lamb And lastly this morning, let s talk about talk about the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. When I got married, I planned on it being only once; but in reality, it will happen a second time. At some point between the time of the rapture and prior to our returning with the Lord for the millennial reign, the marriage of the Church, the Bride of Christ, will take place to Jesus. Men, don t worry, it doesn t seem that you have to get dressed up and go through another ceremony, as it seems to be suggested by the original Greek that when we meet Him, it is a completed act, for the marriage of the Lamb has come! (Revelation 19:7) The Judgment Seat of Christ is the sealing of the deal and yes, this marriage will take place in heaven! Now there will be something called the Marriage Supper, but that will be much later on and will involve Israel and will take place on earth! At the end of the Tribulation, many in Israel will have rejected the Messiah s offer of salvation and many Gentiles will enter in and so much of the gospels will make sense when you understand the difference between the two. Conclusion: So what are our takeaways today? 1. I think we need to really reflect on the things that are important to God and not the religious things we have made important to us. 2. And secondly, we may be well served by having a good look at our motives for doing anything that we do. 3. And lastly today, we must remember not to compare ourselves to anyone; we have unique talents and unique callings and opportunities. We must never suffer the tragedy of one day standing before that Judgment Seat in a state of good for nothingness.